Numerical simulation of water-sand phase flow in regulator channel of micro-sprinkler irrigation system

In order to improve the flow regulation properties of pressure-compensation emitters in the micro-sprinkler irrigation, a compact flow channel structure of the regulator was designed, which is suitable for micro-sprinkler irrigation with larger flow rate. The energy dissipation mechanism and anti-clogging performance of the channel structure were analyzed through numerical simulation. Based on the ANSYS FLUENT software, the pressure contour, velocity contour, vorticity contour and particle deposition distribution in the energy dissipation channel were obtained by using the RNG k-ε model. The results show that the flow field structure has good self-cleaning performance, the maximum sand concentration in the channel is less than 8.5%, and the anti-clogging performance will be the best under 300 kPa operating pressure. The vorticity in the flow field is an important parameter to reflect the sediment concentration, which is inversely proportional to the sand concentration. The W-shaped and variable diameter channel structure can increase the turbulence degree of the fluid, dissipate energy and keep the flow rate constant effectively, to ensure the a good hydraulic performance of the emitter under the larger flow rate, which provides a reference for the optimization of the internal channel structure of pressure compensation emitters.